The term “balikbayan box” translates roughly as “return to one’s homeland.” The true meaning, known to all Filipinos, is a box or boxes that an ex-pat Filipino sends back home that contains all sorts of products such as electronics, toys, food, clothes, shoes and more. Balikbayan boxes take a month or more to arrive in the Philippines from the US, riding inside shipping containers aboard overseas ships. Why would Filipinos use such a slow service in this day and age of overnight shipping, online sales and short attention spans? Shipping is cheap compared to...